Destination Development and
Institutionalization Strategies
In the OIC Member Countries
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In addition, the sales team conducts sales calls, and the DMO submits proposals to attract meetings,
conventions, sporting tournaments and group tours.
The DMO holds quarterly marketing workshops in which they brainstorm promotion ideas for the following
quarter.
b. The role of DMOs in terms of destination product development
Given that tourisminfrastructure in theUnited States is well developed, product development strategiesoften
focus on enhancing public spaces so they are more exciting to visitors as well as for local businesses,
developing a signature event or building a new attraction.
Travel Oregon actively supports local communities within Oregon in product development. One is example is
their support of the town of Oakridge which was a struggling timber town at the foothills of the Cascade
Mountains. Travel Oregon helped the town reinvent itself as the mountain biking capital of the Northwest,
which resulted in drawing new visitors as well as in attracting new business. Travel Oregon worked with a
steering committee fromOakridge that consistedof the local DMO, theMayor of Oakridge and representatives
from the town’s tourism committee. In 2009-2019, Travel Oregon worked with Oakridge to help build the
bicycle tourismproduct. The DMO conductedworkshops directed at stakeholderswhowere alreadyworking
together around mountain biking. The workshops helped build broader community awareness about the
significant economic development potential. In 2010, Oakridge received a $400,000 federal grant to
implement trail improvements which helped improve the condition of the trails, some of which were
deteriorating, had poor signage and lacked clear access points between the city center and trail network.378
Similarly, Go Great Lakes Bay is heavily involved in product development. The DMO invested $1.2 million to
improve the quality of life and increase tourism in a poverty-stricken area of the City of Saginaw in Michigan.
Anotherproject involvedpurchasingan agedproperty in thedowntownareaof theCityofMidland, thatwould
have otherwise been torn down, and converted it into a five-story mixed-use development.379 . The DMO
partnered with the county of Saginaw, where the property is located, as well as with the county’s Land Bank
Authority, and acquired the propertywith the understanding that the countywould then invest in an outdoor
concert venue.
To attract additional visitors, the DMO helped acquire additional properties adjacent to a 16-field soccer
complex so that it could be brought up to a twenty-one field soccer complex; and that put the region on the
national stage in the U.S to host larger soccer competitions and championships. The DMO also organized arts
competitions. In 2017, the DMO conducted its first gap analysis on its tourism product to determine what
physical assets need to be added to the tourism product to make it stronger. The ideas that resulted as an
outcome of the gap analysis are planned to be implemented in the future.380
Managing Capacity
To manage overtourism in some areas and in response to requests from stakeholders, Travel Oregon started
promoting shoulder season (the time between high and low season) travel. To encourage winter travel from
378 Travel Oregon (2017). Bicycle Tourism in Oakridge: Achieving Critical Mass . Retrieved from
379 Destinations International (2017). Destination NEXT Practice Handbook. 1-89.
380 Interview with CEO, Go Great Lakes